Microsoft signs Samsung to Android patent pact

Models hold Samsung Androids. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Microsoft has inked a patent-licensing deal with Samsung that covers smartphones and tablets running Android, adding the Korean outfit to the growing list of Android manufacturers that are paying Redmond to use Google’s mobile operating system.

On Wednesday, Microsoft and Samsung announced an agreement to cross-license each others’ patent portfolios, with Samsung paying Microsoft a portion of the royalties on Android devices and agreeing to expand its development of Windows phones.

“Microsoft and Samsung see the opportunity for dramatic growth in Windows Phone and we’re investing to make that a reality,” said Andy Lees, the president of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Division, said in a statement. “Microsoft believes in a model where all our partners can grow and profit based on our platform.”

Android has come under heavy fire over the last year from numerous patent-wielding Google competitors, including Oracle, Apple, and Microsoft. In response, Google has scrambled to expand its own patent portfolio, acquiring over two thousand patents from IBM and agreeing to purchase device manufacturer Motorola Mobility and its patents.

But Microsoft has already had quite a bit of success negotiating patent deals with Android manufacturers. HTC – the world’s largest Android OEM, according to Nielsen – is on the list. So to are Acer, Viewsonic, Wistron, and Onkyo.

“This is the same tactic we’ve seen time and again from Microsoft,” Google said in a canned statement sent to Wired. “Failing to succeed in the smartphone market, they are resorting to legal measures to extort profit from others’ achievements and hinder the pace of innovation. We remain focused on building new technology and supporting Android partners.”

Microsoft didn’t shy away from these jabs. Frank X. Shaw – the company’s rather vocal vice president of corporate communications – appeared on Twitter with a jab of his own: “Let me boil down the Google statement …from 48 words to 1: Waaaah.”

Shaw also pointed to a blog post from Microsoft general counsels Brad Smith and Horacio Gutierrez. “If industry leaders such as Samsung and HTC can enter into these agreements,” Smith and Gutierrez said, “doesn’t this provide a clear path forward?”

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